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Between now and the supposed March 2017 release window of the Nintendo NX, the maker of all things Mario has six months to get their next console unveiled. Six months.
The PlayStation 4 was unveiled in February and launched that November, roughly 11 months later. The Xbox One was announced in May and launched that November, roughly seven months later. The Wii U revealed in June of 2011 but didn’t launch until November of 2012, well over a year later.
So, yeah, the Nintendo NX is cutting is close when it comes to the history of hardware reveals and their proximity to launch dates. A lot has changed in the four and five years that have passed since this generation of platforms launched.
We’re in an age of announcing something close to its release date, thanks largely to the likes of phone makers. Like it or not, home consoles are competing with mobile platforms for gaming mindshare. The mobile world rides its waves of hype fast between announcement and launch. The iPhone is announced and it’s up for sale just a couple of weeks later.
Games are moving this way, too, thankfully. Fallout 4 was announced in June and launched in November, and that game sold like absolute gangbusters. Fans went nuts at the announcement, and Bethesda rode that hype without brakes straight to launch.
If Nintendo doesn’t have the NX ready for a March 2017 launch, I understand the cause for frustration. Heck, how long can the company ride the crashing wave of the Wii U before console mindshare dries up?
We don’t know that they’ll miss that window yet, though. So, let’s operate under the assumption that they’ll hit the March release date until they announce otherwise.
Is it time to worry about the NX? No, not yet. Sit tight, friends.